Timeline
The Cube Escape games do not take place in chronological order, with some involving travel to previous years within their own direct timeline. This page contains an approximate timeline for known events in the series, including the premium game Rusty Lake Hotel. Please note that this timeline contains some speculation and is subject to change as new games are released. Spoilers for all games are unmarked. ''If you wish to remain unspoiled, ''do not read further if you have not played every game in the series. 1800 - 1900 * 1848: June - Paul Gauguin is born in France. * 1853: March - Vincent van Gogh is born in the Netherlands. * 1859: Spring - Aldous and William Vanderboom reached the last stage of finding The Elixir. Possibly at this time, William died and Aldous transformed to Mr. Crow due to The Elixir. * 1860: Spring - James Vanderboom moves into his new house after the death of his uncle William Vanderboom, and plants a tree in the yard, starting Rusty Lake: Roots. * 1865: Summer - James proposed to his girlfriend, who would become Mary Vanderboom. * 1867: Spring - Emma, Samuel and Albert Vanderboom are born at the Vanderboom House. * 1870: Summer - James Vanderboom discovers the secret alchemy laboratory of his uncles, William and Aldous Vanderboom, and creates the Elixir of Life, with kills him. His wake is held later on that season. * 1884: Spring - Emma Vanderboom is impregnated by a flower, leading the to birth of Frank Vanderboom. * 1888: October - The events of Cube Escape: Arles happen in the Bedroom in Arles. ** Vincent van Gogh defeats the shadowy figure in the mirror and escapes his cube * 1889: The companies producing Rusty Lake's 'Rusty Lake Cigars' and 'Rusty Lake Pilsener' are founded. * 1889: Spring - Samuel Vanderboom repairs his family Grandfather Clock and meets his future wife, Ida, a travelling fortune teller. * 1890: July - Vincent van Gogh dies. * 1891: Fall - Frank Vanderboom falls down a well, partly accidental and partly dropped by his uncle Albert Vanderboom. His mother, Emma, searches for him, and sends him a letter to be delivered by Harvey. * 1893: Rusty Lake Hotel occurs in Rusty Lake. ** Harvey works as in the Rusty Lake Hotel along with Mr. Toad, Mr. Bat, and Mr. Crow under the hotel owner, Mr. Owl. ** Mr. Deer, Mr. Rabbit, Mrs. Pigeon, Ms. Pheasant, and Mr. Boar stayed at the Rusty Lake Hotel. They're consequently murdered and have their memories extracted into five black cubes. * 1894: Corrupted Souls of the hotel guests escape confinement, attacking Harvey, who escapes the Hotel in her parrot form. * 1895: Winter - Samuel and Ida Vanderboom are married and have a wedding photo taken, joined by Mary, Albert, Emma and Leonard. * 1896: Summer - Overcome with despair at losing her son, Emma Vanderboom commits suicide by hanging. 1900 - 1970 * 1903: May - Paul Gauguin dies. * 1904: Summer - Mary Vanderboom dies * 1904: Summer - Albert Vanderboom kills Samuel and Ida, using voodoo magic. * 1909: Summer - Rose Vanderboom is born, artificially created to be Albert's daughter. * 1914: Spring - Leonard Vanderboom leaves the Vanderboom House to join the army, shortly before the start of World War One. * 1918: Winter - Leonard Vanderboom returns from WWI, shell shocked and missing a leg. * 1919: Fall - Rose, using a Ouija board, communicates with the spirit of her great-great uncle, William Vanderboom, who informs her of the resurrection ritual. * 1920: Fall - With help from his cousin, Rose Vanderboom, Frank manages to escape the well where he has been trapped for 29 years. * 1926: Fall - As revenge for trapping him in the well, Frank kills his uncle Albert. * 1929: Fall - Leonard finds the first of his great-great-uncles' timepieces. * 1930: Dale Vandermeer is born. * 1930: Winter - Frank Vanderboom finds his mother's letter and the second of his great-great-uncles' timepieces. * 1932: Fall - Rose Vanderboom spends the night grave-robbing, finding the third of her great-great-uncles' timepieces. * 1933: Spring - Rose and Frank Vanderboom have the last dance. * 1935: Spring - Frank, Leonard and Rose all become entangled in roots from their family tree, giving birth to a brand new baby. * 1939: Dale Vandermeer celebrates his 9th birthday, along with his parents and grandfather. The party is interrupted by Mr. Rabbit, who kills Dale's family with a sub-machine gun. ** In an alternate timeline, Dale undoes his family's death and helps his grandfather shoot Mr. Rabbit before he can attack. * 1964: Cube Escape: Seasons begins in the spring. ** The Young Woman receives a phonecall from Mr. Crow and begins to have visions of a shadowy figure. *** In an alternate timeline, another phonecall destroys the image of the shadow and reveals the true form of the woman. ** Harvey, her pet parrot, lays an egg, which is boiled and hatches into a black cube. *** In an alternate timeline, Harvey escapes from their cage and The House. * 1966: Mr. Owl gives Dale a watch through a vision in a snowglobe. * 1969: Cube Escape: Harvey's Box and Cube Escape: The Lake both occur at The Cabin. ** The Young Woman prepares to visit Rusty Lake, possibly after winning a newspaper competition. Among her packed possessions is a box of cigars and Harvey. ** Inside the box, the events of Harvey's Box follow the journey from The Room to The Cabin. ** Once reaching The Cabin, Harvey sees a shadowy figure reaching down, but he attacks it and flies away. ** The Young Woman spends an afternoon fishing, before being attacked in The Cabin by a shadowy figure climbing out of The Lake. *** In an alternate timeline, the figure is fought off by a pentagon of light and transforms into a black cube. 1970 - 1980 * 1971: Cube Escape: Seasons continues in the Summer. ** The Young Woman continues to have visions, seeing her own death at the hands of the shadowy figure. * 1971: Cube Escape: Seasons continues in the Fall, followed by Cube Escape: Theatre. ** 12 - 10 - 1971: The Young Woman is murdered, but it is unclear whether the cause of death is murder or suicide. ** Detective Dale Vandermeer is assigned to the investigation, and begins to discover information about Rusty Lake, talking briefly to unhelpful Mr. Crow. ** Dale visits the Theatre, speaking to Bob, The Young Woman's apparent former lover. He is also unhelpful, only drinking at the bar. ** At some time during this season, Harvey is stabbed in the chest, presumably dying. *** In an alternate timeline, Harvey is not stabbed, having already left The Room. * 1972: Cube Escape: Case 23 Chapters 2, 3 and 4 all occur in Summer at The Police Station, The Chapel and The Cabin, concurrently with Cube Escape: The Mill. ** At The Mill, Mr. Crow arranges for the body of The Young Woman to be transported to him. ** Detective Dale Vandermeer links the murder to Rusty Lake. He creates a map of several important locations, and places two cubes into his television set. ** Bob, who is now in police custody, appears to murder a policeman, transforming into another corrupted soul. ** Dale Vandermeer is transported to The Cabin by Mr. Owl, and encounters The Old Man who turns into Mr. Crow and rows him across Rusty Lake to The Cabin. ** Mr. Crow extracts the memories of The Young Woman, taking the cubes to feed Rusty Lake. This causes corruption of her body, resurrecting her as a Shadow. She murders the residents of The Mill, and holds Harvey as a hostage, but is persuaded to leave by Mr. Crow. ** A horned shadow attacks Detective Dale Vandermeer, but he is able to escape in an elevator that leads down into Rusty Lake. *** From Dale's own perspective, Birthday and Theatre occur after this moment, though both are implied to be derived from his own memories. * 1981: Cube Escape: Seasons Chapter 4 continues in the Winter. ** The Young Woman, now as a Shadow figure, constructs a machine to travel backwards in time and prevent her death using the power of a blue cube. ** Numerous changes are made to the timeline, resulting in the alternate timeline detailed in some of the italic sentences. Gallery overview.png|Overview of the first 6 games chronology-2.png|Series Chronology (Until CE: Birthday) Category:Rusty Lake Category:Timeline